Charlie Brock to step down from LaunchTN CEO role

Charlie Brock is CEO of Launch Tennessee. This will be the first year 36|86, Launch Tennessee's startup conference, takes place at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.(Photo: Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean)Buy Photo

Charlie Brock, CEO of Launch Tennessee, is leaving the position in October to work in the private sector.

Brock began his role in 2013, leading the state-funded nonprofit that supports startups and entrepreneurs across the state. He has pushed for legislation that helps fund early stage companies, developed a state-wide mentoring network for entrepreneurs and has helped promote Tennessee companies. He has also led the creation and development of 36|86 Entrepreneurship Festival, a conference for Southeast entrepreneurs.

The organization focuses on early-stage capital formation, commercialization, legislative efforts and talent development and retention. Early-stage investment in Tennessee doubled under Brock's leadership, according to LaunchTN.

"This has been a wonderful opportunity for me and incredibly rewarding, the most rewarding in my professional life," Brock said. "Entrepreneurs from anywhere in the state can get access to support from everywhere in the state. For people to buy into that vision and buy into being part of something greater than their own area, region and entity,has been the biggest accomplishment."

The nonprofit has helped companies create more than 1,700 jobs and raise more than $186 million, according to Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe.

“Because of Charlie and the team at LaunchTN, Tennessee entrepreneurs have been able to take advantage of the startup-friendly environment that has been fostered in our state,” Rolfe said. “Governor Haslam and I are enormously grateful to have had Charlie lead LaunchTN for the last five years, and we wish him well on his next venture.”

Prior to leading LaunchTN, Brock was a general partner of the angel investment group Chattanooga Renaissance Fund and CEO of business accelerator CO.LAB. He co-founded Foxmark Media in 1998 and sold it in 2006 to an Australian-based media company. He also helped launch FourBridges Capital Advisors, a Chattanooga-based investment bank.

LaunchTN has developed a new, five-year strategic plan and because of that timing, it made sense to have a CEO who is committed to leading the organization for the next four to five years, Brock said. He said he does not know what his next professional role will be, but he is looking forward to spending more time in Chattanooga, where he commuted from since 2013.

Brock's successor will be announced after his departure in October. Tom Ballard, emeritus board member of LaunchTN, will lead the search committee for his replacement. The post is not appointed by the governor's office, so the upcoming gubernatorial election will not play into the hire, Brock said.

Brock said the collaboration of entrepreneurial communities that LaunchTN has cultivated statewide and the infrastructure developed for aspiring entrepreneurs is unique to Tennessee and an environment that LaunchTN worked hard to create, he said.

Nine entrepreneurial hubs were established in Tennessee, beginning in 2010, with the creation of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. LaunchTN since narrowed its funding to six, based on effectiveness and funding, Brock said. Centers in Tullahoma, Kingsport and Martin were cut from LaunchTN funding, and the nonprofit has found other partner programs for entrepreneurs to seek resources from, which receive state funds.

The next LaunchTN CEO will need to maintain focus on finding capital sources for startups and for sustaining the entrepreneurial hubs in place. The nonprofit will also need to maintain support for rural areas, where small businesses can make a significant impact on employment, Brock said. LaunchTN programming reach as grown to participation from 75 percent of the state's 95 counties, up from 41 percent in 2013.

"We need to increase the resources we get financially from the state and from other partners to do so," Brock said. "Maybe the initial thinking was (the entrepreneurial centers) can be self-sustaining after three or four years. That is not a reasonable assumption. They need our continued support and they are doing important work for economic development in this state."

While the funding for startups has increased to $1.5 billion in the past five years, more angel investors are needed, Brock said. Government-funded programs TNInvestco and INCITE have mostly allocated about $150 million in capital.

The state approved the Angel Tax Credit in 2016, which provides a tax credit for those investing in early stage companies, but when the Hall Income Tax expires in 2022, that will disappear. Since it passed, $1.5 million has been credited to investors for more than $5.4 million invested in Tennessee companies. As much as $4 million in credits are available in 2018.

In 2017, the state legislature approved $1.5 million for matching federal small-business grants that has gone to 11 early-stage companies in Tennessee.

"We need more angel investors to get off the sidelines and to put money into early-stage companies," Brock said.